1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fugitive colorant solutions containing an acid substituted chromophore and an amine ethoxylate associated with the acid substituent of the chromophore.
2. Prior Art
Amine ethoxylates have been found to be useful as detergents in removing or inhibiting textile stains. Sapers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,325 discloses an alkaline stripping bath containing sodium hydrosulfite and an aliphatic amine which has been ethoxylated and quaternized with a halogenated aromatic compound such as benzyl chloride. The stripping bath is useful to remove the color from treated fabric. The amines are ethoxylated with 4 to 12 moles of ethylene oxide, preferably 5 to 11 moles. In addition to the formulation of Sapers, strong reducing agents such as sodium hydrosulfite have been used alone to decolorize dyes.
Coe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,257, provide a detergent composition having an ethoxylated amine. The amine contains an unbranched aliphatic hydrocarbon substituent and two polyethyleneoxide substituents which, preferably, contain a total of 8 to 16 moles of ethylene oxide.
Stable solutions of anionic dyes have been produced by reacting the alkali or ammonium salts of acid dyes with a polyalkoxyalkylamine, examples of which may be found in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,245 Kramer et al. PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF CONCENTRATED SOLUTIONS OF ANIONIC DYE- STUFFS U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,203 Groll et al. DYESTUFF SOLUTIONS OF COPPER PHTHALO- CYANINE DERIVA- TIVES FOR PAPER DYEING U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,000 Groll et al. DYESTUFF SOLUTIONS, THEIR PREPARATION AND THEIR USE FOR DYEING PAPER U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,045 Rowe PROCESS FOR PREPARATION OF CONCENTRATED ANIONIC RED DYE SOLUTIONS ______________________________________
In Rowe, production of salt as a byproduct is avoided by displacing a volatile amine with the polyalkoxyalkylamine group. The resulting red dye solution is useful for permanently dyeing nylon. The polyalkoxyalkylamine substituent contains less than nine ethoxy or propoxy groups, preferably from one to three ethoxy groups. The oxyalkylene groups are added to enhance solubility rather than provide fugitivity.
Colorants containing ethoxylated aromatic amines are known in the prior art and exemplified by Gale et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,534 and Kuhn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,633. In the aforementioned inventions, the alkoxylated amino nitrogen is covalently bonded to an aromatic ring comprising the chromophore. The substituted chromophore of Kuhn has from 75 to 150 ethyleneoxy units which provides fugitivity even after the colorant has been heat set on a textile material. When heat setting is not involved, approximately 30 ethyleneoxy units have been found to be sufficient to impart fugitivity.
Triethanolamine (TEA), a starting material used in the present invention, is a well known dye levelling agent. In an acid dye bath, TEA reduces penetration of the dye into a textile material to prevent differential dye uptake. Surfactant compositions of alkoxypropylamine are discussed in Funahashi, H., "The Interaction between Poly(oxyethyl)ated Alkoxypropylamine Surfactants and Dyes", Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol. 125, No. 1, pp 279-285, September 1988.